The King County Housing Authority has earned numerous regional and national awards for its innovative projects, and when evaluated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, it consistently rates among the best housing authorities in the country. KCHA is recognized nationally as a leader in the field of affordable housing.

Greenbridge Wins Accolades

Greenbridge in White Center.

KCHA’s Greenbridge project received a Legacy of Livable Communities Award in 2006 from Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Greenbridge is a master planned community in White Center
that will provide an array of affordable housing choices, parks and trails, and shops and services to a mix of households with very-low to moderate-incomes on the site that previously housed a public housing complex called Park Lake Homes. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in creating livable and vibrant communities and advances the goals of the Growth Management Act.

Seola Crossing – the first rental housing development at Greenbridge – won a Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Award in the Public Housing Revitalization category, which was a new category in 2008. The award comes from the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition. Greenbridge was one of six first-place finishers among 43 applications from 23 states.

The project also won a Community-Informed Design Award from the National American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The award went to GGLO, LLC. – the urban planner, architect and landscape architect for the Greenbridge master plan and entitlement. It recognizes Greenbridge both for its inclusive planning process and the resulting environmentally and family friendly neighborhood design.

The entire redevelopment is projected to be a three-star Built Green community. The two completed parts of the project – the renovated Wiley Community Center and the first phases of the rental housing – already have been certified three-star Built Green. In 2007, Greenbridge crossed a milestone by constructing the region’s 10,000th Built Green home, according to standards developed by the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties and the King and Snohomish county governments.

The parks and trails at Greenbridge won a Special Mention Design Award for Social Response from the Washington Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. A hierarchy of open space ranges in size and form across the site, from community parks, to neighborhood parks, to pocket parks, with trails and linear parks connecting them.

Greenbridge also won an Award of Merit from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO).

A $35 million HOPE VI Grant to KCHA from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in September 2001 made the Greenbridge project possible.

Awards Applaud Renovated Wiley Community Center

Wiley Community Center.

The Wiley Center plaza and new adjacent rental housing received a 2008 Excellence in Construction Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington, which named it the Rehabilitation Project of the Year. Previously surrounded by parking on all sides, the center now fronts an attractive community plaza that acts as dynamic social gathering space. Synergy Construction, Inc., was the project’s general contractor.

The Wiley Center also won an Award of Merit from NAHRO for the $5 million renovation project’s design and has been nominated for a National Award of Excellence. The rejuvenated Wiley Center offers a stunning contrast to the dark, outdated structure built in 1980. Home to multiple community service organizations, the center now boasts light-filled rooms, a remodeled gymnasium, an innovative rooftop cupola that provides fresh and healthy indoor air and public art that reflects the neighborhood’s diversity.

Tonkin/Hoyne/Lokan Architecture & Urban Design led the center and plaza design team. Buchanan Construction was the general contractor during the first phase; Synergy Construction was the general contractor during the second phase.

Additionally, the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of NAHRO selected the Wiley Center for a 2008 PRAIS Award (Pacific Northwest Regional Council Award for Innovative Service). PRAIS applications are judged on several criteria including the level of innovation and overall excellence.

Springwood Youth Center Reaps Multiple Honors

Springwood Youth Center in Kent.

The $3.4 million Springwood Youth Center, which opened in October 2006, won the Editor’s Choice Award for Innovative Architecture and Design from Recreation Management Magazine.
The award recognized not just the 10,800-square-foot building’s design but also the Springwood Youth Center’s unique mission to support middle- and high-school-aged youth. The center is located in Springwood Apartments family housing in Kent that
the King County Housing Authority owns and manages.
The Springwood Youth Center was the only project built to
LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards among the winners.
Following the design award, the center earned a LEED Silver designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The center also won an Award of Merit and an Award of Excellence from NAHRO.
ARC Architects designed the center; Briere & Associates, Inc. was the general contractor.

Ballinger Homes, Kent Family Center, Wayland Arms Earn NAHRO Awards

KKent Family Center.

Three KCHA projects recently won Awards of Merit from NAHRO.
•Ballinger Homes, a Shoreline public housing complex for families that underwent $4.2 million worth of exterior renovations.
•The Kent Family Center, the new $4.2 million community services facility at Springwood Apartments.
•Wayland Arms Community Garden, a garden built by residents at the Auburn public housing development for seniors and residents with disabilities. The new garden replaced one that was displaced by a city transportation project.

Awards Aplenty for The Village at Overlake Station

Overlake Station at night.

The Village at Overlake Station is a transit-oriented development (TOD) that integrates 308 units of workforce housing, a mass transit facility and a child day care center on a single site. Located in the midst of a major Eastside employment hub, the project’s mix of density, mass transit access and creative use of publicly-owned land serves as an important model for development in the region’s suburban cores. As the first bus TOD in the nation, Overlake has attracted national attention and numerous awards. Overlake earned a Livable Futures Endorsement from 1000 Friends of Washington and has won several awards, including a Director’s Award for Leadership from the Washington Department of Community Trade and Economic Development, an Award of Excellence in program innovation for affordable housing from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) and an outstanding design award from the City of Redmond.

Tenant Education Program on Water, Energy Savings Nets Award

Residents received “goody bags” filled with items that encouraged water and energy savings as part a KCHA tenant education program that won an Award of Excellence from the NAHRO. About 2,550 bags – which had a calendar with energy-saving tips, a five-minute shower timer, a compact fluorescent light bulb and more – were distributed to all residents in developments undergoing energy/water retrofits as part of the KCHA Energy Services Company (ESCO) project. In addition, about 190 bags were distributed to residents moving into the first phase of housing at Greenbridge.
KCHA’s partners in the project included Seattle City Light, Puget Sound Energy, Seattle Public Utilities, AmeriCorps and ESCO contractor Siemens.

Management Awards

PHAS High Performer Score

KCHA has earned “high performer” status from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 1991 when HUD began evaluating the country’s public housing. To earn high performer designation, a public housing authority must achieve an overall score of 90 percent or higher under HUD’s public housing evaluation system, currently called Public Housing Assessment System. PHAS evaluates 29 separate agency functions, from property management and maintenance to an authority’s financial systems and tenant satisfaction. The 2003 score is likely the last PHAS evaluation the agency will face. As a recently designated MTW agency (see below), the Housing Authority is no longer required to undergo PHAS evaluations.

SEMAP High Performer Score

KCHA earned "high performer" status from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2001 and 2002, the only two years in which HUD made such an evaluation. The Section 8 Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) measures the performance of public housing agencies in 14 different areas, including proper selection of applicants from the waiting list; sound determination of reasonable rents; accurate verification of family income and timely annual housing quality inspections. The 2003 score is likely the last SEMAP evaluation the agency will face. As a recently designated MTW agency (see below), the Housing Authority is no longer required to undergo this evaluation by HUD.

Making Transition Work

KCHA is one of 26 housing authorities nationwide chosen by HUD to participate in a seven-year demonstration program called Making Transition Work (MTW). The program, which was created by Congress, allows high-performing agencies more flexibility from HUD rules and more local control over their federal assistance budgets in order to reward effective management and increase accountability.